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How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

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Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#161
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don't understand the obsession with jobs anyway people don't want a job, they want money and purpose most jobs barely deliver either

Can you propose something better that provides money and purpose? Keep in mind that most people are unwilling and unable to sustainably maintain self-employment.

"self-employment" seems like a bit of a joke, like `self-flagellation

money to survive, purpose to thrive

you don't need a 'job', and particularly a 'job' who's only purpose is to make profit for someone else

we really need to rethink society

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#162
post #128
post #83

> But if we bump the cost of freight, insurance, and customs from $5 to, say, $28, then they wholesale the shoes to Footlocker for about $75. And if Footlocker purchases Nike shoes for $75, then they retail them for $150. Everyone needs to fixed percentages to avoid losses. I don't understand this paragraph. If Footlocker was okay with $50 profit/shoe, why do they need to claim $75 profit/shoe in their costs per shoe…

In theory, you're right, however it ignores some key points; -Some of their costs are in fact linear based on the cost of the item. Inventory cost doubles, perhaps now they have to take out higher interest debt to finance that. Things like insurance would also at least double. Transaction fees (like card fees at about ~2%) and other parts (like returns risk) also increase linearly. -Reduced sales due to increased pri…

Presuming that theft rates will increase also if the item is more costly and affordable to less[edit*] people. Also if inventory is damaged in the warehouse or on the sales floor, lost or unsold then those cost scale with the cost of the item.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#164
post #83

> But if we bump the cost of freight, insurance, and customs from $5 to, say, $28, then they wholesale the shoes to Footlocker for about $75. And if Footlocker purchases Nike shoes for $75, then they retail them for $150. Everyone needs to fixed percentages to avoid losses. I don't understand this paragraph. If Footlocker was okay with $50 profit/shoe, why do they need to claim $75 profit/shoe in their costs per shoe…

I seem to remember from many years ago in retail that you should double charges every step of the way, so if you are paying 20 dollars for a t-shirt you should be charging at least 40 for it, as a sort of rule of thumb.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#165

> As the US has switched to a post-industrial economy, a lot of the wage growth has been in knowledge intensive services—medicine, law, engineering. I.e. bullshit jobs.

Hey! There's no need to make fun of my job!

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#166
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Yeah, it's real easy when you employ an army of nation-state hackers No it's not, even if it were true. Is it really that hard to admit that the Chinese people are industrious, smart, ambitious and have extremely high education level? And that the state has directed the development of the country wisely in the past 40 years?

Unfortunately, it is true.

Why spend a decade researching something when you can just hack into American companies and steal their R&D about the same topic and then build from that? Saves a ton of time.

It's a pretty great strategy (for them) and works well.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#167
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Yeah, it's real easy when you employ an army of nation-state hackers to break into and steal R&D and tech from US Fortune 500 and aerospace companies to then use it internally and give to private industry in China. All of this is old, tired news. They're leading in many areas now, so at least in the fields where they lead and innovate, they couldn’t have "stolen" anything. If you would like to get more up to date:…

Imagine that, Chinese hackers breaking into energy companies and stealing blueprints to nuclear power plants (2014).

https://money.cnn.com/2014/05/19/technology/security/china-h...

>The kind of spying China is accused of can yield valuable information and give the country's businesses a much-needed boost. Westinghouse spent a significant amount of money designing the special pipes that are the defining feature of its AP1000 pressurized water reactor. Stealing those plans means that a Chinese nuclear plant builder might be able to skip costly research and development.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_espionage_in_the_Unite...

>In 2016, the U.S. Justice Department charged China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) with stealing nuclear secrets from the United States.[36][37] The Guardian reported: "According to the US Department of Justice, the FBI has discovered evidence that China General Nuclear Power (CGN) has been engaged in a conspiracy to steal US nuclear secrets stretching back almost two decades. Both CGN and one of the corporation’s senior advisers, Szuhsiung Ho, have been charged with conspiring to help the Chinese government develop nuclear material in a manner that is in clear breach of US law."[38]

Just two instances of many.

They play the long con and have pretty much stolen from every industry to further their own.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#168
post #89

Trying to summarize the summary for myself From a $100 shoe that sells for $76: - $24 goes overseas (22 cost, 2 freight) - $8 goes to the US gov't (3 import, 2 Nike tax, 3 Footlocker tax) - $33 goes to US employees or businesses (5 Nike marketing, 11 Nike expenses, 17 Footlocker expenses) - $5 goes to Nike (11% return) - $6 goes to Footlocker (8% return) But now with 100% tariffs, it's a $100 shoe that sells for $100…

The piece to add there is that all this money is getting paid by the consumer. The overseas piece doesn't change, same number of US dollars going to the other country. The $24 increase in cost is paid by the US consumer.

That's what I don't get. It's always phrased as the US somehow making all this money when in reality it's Americans that are paying for it. Among other reasons to be able to afford tax cuts in the future. Sure this will hurt other economies but primarily right now it seems to hurt the American economy and people the most.

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Their population is declining Not where it matters. China has a much larger under-employed population base than the US has. They still have a few hundred million peasant farmers whose children can and are getting educated and moving to the city. Their pool of labour is growing while the US's is stagnant. Not that it needs to grow -- over the last decade or so China's factory employment has been relatively constant…

We don't need "peasant farmers" to educate, we need AIs to program!8-)) The race between manual labor and machine labor is heating up anew. We don't yet have humanoid robots but they're on the design table, so it may be time to fasten your seat belt.

> We don't yet have humanoid robots but they're on the design table, so it may be time to fasten your seat belt.

Right ... so about that, here's Morgan Stanley's report on humanoid robots from a couple months ago:

Investors will notice that 73% of the companies confirmed to be involved in humanoids and 77% of integrators are based out of Asia (56%/45% out of China, respectively). A common refrain we hear from investors is the lack of Western firms to add to their humanoid portfolio outside of TSLA and NVDA. In our view, this is important information in and of itself as it represents the reality of the current humanoid ecosystem which we expect may need to change materially over time (see the West's current experience with EVs which has significant supply chain overlap with humanoids). Our research suggests China continues to show the most impressive progress in humanoid robotics where startups are benefitting from established supply chains, local adoption opportunities, and strong degrees of national government support.

https://advisor.morganstanley.com/john.howard/documents/fiel...

Re: How much do you think it costs to make a pair of Nike shoes in Asia?

#170
post #123

Are comfortable and repairable shoes possible and sensible from an economic point of view? Any recommendations?

Classic leather dress shoes can last decades and can be resoled many times.

But most people don't consider them comfortable. More the opposite.

But no, the foam and rubber modern "comfortable" shoes are made of are not repairable. Fundamentally, the foam or other sole material simply breaks down. The rubber wears away. And the woven and plastic materials the upper are made of fray, lose padding, and otherwise break down as well.

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